


memory

by MikazukiMunechika305



Category: Tanz der Vampire - Steinman/Kunze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 08:50:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10738293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikazukiMunechika305/pseuds/MikazukiMunechika305
Summary: Even after being alive for hundreds of years, Herbert couldn’t forget everything that had happened.Maybe it was because he had been alive for hundreds of years, but he still mourned on all the death anniversaries of his good friends or lovers who hadn’t survived.It was on one of those days that Magda found him in the cemetery almost one year after she had come to the castle, leaning over one of the tombstones and muttering gentle words in French.





	memory

**Author's Note:**

> Although I've known this musical for 16 years, this is my first fic for it... or the first one I'm finishing, actually. I'm thinking about Herbert's past quite a lot right now, so I'm trying to portray a side of him that's a little different from how we get to see him in the musical and movie. And because he is quite serious here and Magda, according to my headcanons, spends a lot of time with him, she is a little different from how we get to see her 'vampire side' in the musical as well.
> 
> Since this is my first fic for this fandom, I'd be more than happy if you could leave me a review! And now, I hope you'll be able to enjoy reading! (^-^)

Even after being alive for hundreds of years, Herbert couldn’t forget everything that had happened.

Maybe it was _because_ he had been alive for hundreds of years, but he still mourned on all the death anniversaries of his good friends or lovers who hadn’t survived.

It was on one of those days that Magda found him in the cemetery almost one year after she had come to the castle, leaning over one of the tombstones and muttering gentle words in French.

With a small sigh, she sat down next to him. “Celine,” she read out louder than she had intended. “A girl?”

Herbert looked up in surprise, then he smiled solemnly. “She was more of a sister for me than anything else.”

“Let me guess—you bonded with her over your love for cosmetics?” Maybe she was being just a _tiny_ bit mean, but the words had left Magda’s lips before she could stop them.

“You’ll be surprised, but no, we bonded over the fact that we felt lonely and needed company. Father was busy with some French officials at that time, and apparently he felt like I was too… immature to stay with him for the talks he had to have with them.” It had been the second death anniversary of the man he had thought to be the love of his life, but that didn’t matter right now.

Even if she had become a very close friend of his, maybe even his best friend, Magda didn’t need to know everything. Not yet.

“I met Celine in front of a church in Paris hundred years ago. She was sixteen back then… and oh, she was so _incredibly_ smart. I told her I was 21, and after talking to me for only two hours, she could tell that I was much, much older. She lived in an orphanage, and I could convince Father of taking her here. We loved each other like siblings, even though she was human and Father never officially accepted her into our family—he never actually liked her, or better, the fact that I asked him not to drink from her. But we were happy.” Herbert sighed, his hand brushing over the tombstone gently. “When she was 22, she even agreed to let me bite her. Celine… had it all, you know? She was everything I wanted my future boyfriend to be. Smart, beautiful, gentle. Back in Paris, she had been poor—here, she became a princess everyone would have loved if they had known she existed. She lived as a vampire for three more years. And then… she forgot about the sunlight. We found her with her skin burned, crying and whimpering about how sorry she was. She couldn’t even move anymore… I gave her my blood, but because I hadn’t been hunting for days—we had been planning to go hunting together the following night… She never got to see the moon again, or anything else. I lost consciousness then, too, because I gave her so much of my blood. For nothing, as you can see.”

Only now he realized that he had said much more than he had intended to reveal, but it just had to be said one day after he’d held it in for more than forty years. Again, he sighed. “She was the only girl I ever loved… even though it wasn’t in a romantic way, not even with her.”

Magda watched him silently, not knowing what to say. She eventually settled with, “I’m sorry you lost her.”

“No, it had to happen, I knew that from the beginning. It was stupid of me to think we could become happy if I bit her… Father _is_ right about that, you know. We’re damned. Apparently we don’t… deserve happiness.” Herbert got up, shaking his head. “After losing her, I avoided getting close to others. You’re my first actual friend after her, so… forgive me if I get like this sometimes. And… try not to die, will you?”

She laughed, elbowing him gently. “I can’t be like her, but I sure as hell won’t die on you like she did. You know, I really _am_ more capable than that.”

He couldn’t help but grin upon hearing that. “Oh yes, I know that. You’re doing just fine so far, don’t worry.”

“Oh, I feel honored.” She didn’t actually mean the words as sarcastic as they sounded, and she was sure Herbert knew that. “Now, if you promise to dance with me during the ball in two days, I might actually forgive you for thinking I wasn’t capable of staying alive. Or undead. _And_ if you come hunting with me now.”

Herbert’s eyes lit up enthusiastically. “Oh, I haven’t gone hunting in a few days—that’s a good idea! I apologize, Celine, but I have to leave now.” He briefly bowed towards the grave. “Ah, and we can dance as much as you want, Magda. My darling hasn’t come back, so… I don’t mind dancing with you at all.”

While he was saying that, he sounded a little sad and Magda assumed he really did love Alfred, or he at least liked him a lot, so she slowly said, “Maybe he’ll come back. Who knows, maybe that crazy professor of his is putting together an army of vampire hunters to kill us all and he’s dragging Alfred back here. I guess he’d do that.”

“Yes, yes, he would,” Herbert agreed. “Though I really hope he doesn’t. I’m not willing to deal with vampire hunters. Now, just let me put on some better clothes and I’ll come hunting with you, is that fine?”

Magda sighed quietly. “If you have to. We’re just _hunting_ , everyone who sees us will end up dead, but… ah, whatever. You’re just inveterate, you know?”

He laughed at that. “Magda, I’m not inveterate, I’m _fabulous_.”

“Right.”

 

An hour later—Magda had decided to forgive him for having to put on more fancy clothes even though they weren’t even going to actually talk to someone—they were leaving the castle, and she noticed that he had put on much less make-up than she had expected.

“Oh? I thought you’d also put on some make-up, you never go anywhere without that,” she couldn’t keep herself from asking about it.

The solemn smile returned to Herbert’s lips. “Celine didn’t like it when I put on too much make-up. ‘You’re gay enough without the make-up,’ she used to say.”

“Hm, she’s right about that, at least,” Magda smirked. “We’d probably get along if she was still here.”

“You really would… she was so kind, and yet there was _something_ about her… she could be brave in the strangest and scariest moments, but if there was a spider on the lid of her coffin, she always came crying to me.” He chuckled sadly when he remembered that, and Magda looked up at him in slight surprise.

“But you’re scared of spiders too, aren’t you?”

“Hey! I’m not _scared_ of them!” he protested, and he didn’t sound very sad anymore. “I just… don’t like them. I don’t know. They’re disgusting, aren’t they?”

Magda rolled her eyes. “When I had to clean the rooms in the inn, sometimes there were tons of spiders. I’m used to them.”

"Then you can clean the vault next time. Koukol will be happy to get some help.”

“Why should I? I’ve cleaned enough back then when I was still human—”

Herbert put a finger over her lips to silence her, ignored her confused expression, and pushed her behind a tree.

“Wow, it’s really cold out here…”

“It’s your fault we got lost! You said we had to take this path, and look where we are now!”

Two wanderers, young men who came from the direction the village was located in.

“Travelers,” Magda muttered, because she had never seen them before. “They must be coming from the inn. One for you, the other one for me?”

Her friend gave her a bright smile. “You really understand me, don’t you?”

With that, he left their little hideout, his steps light and somewhat elated. “Oh, what are you two doing here? Two such pretty boys shouldn’t be walking around in this cold, my dears.”

One of them bowed in front of him, clearly relieved. “I thought we were all alone here! Please, do you know a place where we can spend the night? We came from the village, we thought we’d make it to the castle before night, but… we got lost.”

Hearing that made Herbert frown a little, but he quickly regained his cheerful expression. “Ah, you’ve come here to see the castle? We can show you the way there, actually you made it quite far already. Only a little more… Magda, please…?”

She joined the men, lowering her head slightly to greet them. “It’s… nice to meet you. You look quite cold… come here.” With a few quick steps, she stood behind one of the men, her arms wrapping around his shoulders.

A cruel grin spread on Herbert’s lips—the vampire in him, the creature that enjoyed killing, came through now more than she had ever seen before. “You really have no qualms, Magda,” he said, sounding a lot colder than usual.

“Of course I don’t,” Magda simply replied before tilting the young man’s head to the side and sinking her fangs into his neck. The moment the hot blood flooded her mouth, she forgot about everything else and didn’t even notice how his struggling became weaker and weaker, until he collapsed in her arms lifelessly—not a single drop of blood left in him.

“How was it, huh?” Herbert stepped in front of the other man, grabbing his wrist roughly. “Watching your friend die. Beautiful, right? And now… it’s _your_ turn, my dear.”

“N-no—please, don’t… he was my brother; why…” The man obviously couldn’t believe what had just happened, and the panic was clearly audible in his voice. “Please let me go! You… you’re… monsters…!”

He didn’t get a reply to that; instead, Herbert yanked his head back forcefully buried his fangs in his neck and allowed his eyes to flutter closed in the pure pleasure of getting to drink fresh blood.

The Count’s son dropped the dead body to the ground carelessly. “That was good…”

Slowly, the beast in him was disappearing, leaving behind the Herbert Magda knew and liked.

She nodded slightly. “Delicious, right? I really don’t regret existing like this right now.”

That made Herbert glare at her. “Wait a few hundred years and you’ll end up regretting your entire existence. I know what I’m talking about; you’re talking to an expert here.”

Then he turned away, returning to the castle at a pace Magda could barely keep up with without running.

She caught up with him when his steps slowed down in front of the castle, stopping momentarily to open the gate.

When he had done that, Herbert turned back to her, looking almost a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“For reacting like that when you said you didn’t regret being a vampire.”

Magda shook her head. “It’s fine. I know life… or existence… can be hard, I just haven’t experienced it yet. Don’t worry.”

Herbert smiled weakly. “I understand. Come inside now, will you? We’ve wasted more than half of the night down in the cemetery, and since we went hunting then… you’re still young, only about a year old, so the sunlight isn’t as bad for you as it is for me, but it’ll hurt enough if we stay out here for too long anyways.”

She lowered her head in agreement. “If you say so.”

“I do. And I’m always right.”—There he was again, the Herbert she had come to know; the one who thought he was perfect and not a damned creature of the night.

A small smile spread on Magda’s lips. “I know. And I’m coming; don’t worry, I’m not going to burn in the sun like Celine… oh, sorry.”  
“Don’t apologize.” His smile looked a little more relieved now. “Let’s just go inside.”

 

Two days passed and in the third night, Herbert got up early. He literally kicked Magda out of her coffin with the words, “Come on, get up, Magda! We need to get up and prepare for the ball!” he exclaimed excitedly, and with a heavy sigh, Magda acknowledged the fact that he had completely turned back to the loud and happy young man he usually was.

“Shut up, I don’t need as much time as you to get ready…” she protested tiredly, but he pulled her up to her feet and dragged her out of the vault.

“Let me dress you up just this once,” he pleaded, his eyes wide like those of a child, and she rolled her eyes.

“If you have to.”

“Thank you!” he exclaimed enthusiastically, leading the way to his room and the adjacent bathroom. “I’m going to take a bath. While I’m doing that, you can put on your dress already, or you can take a bath yourself. Let’s just meet again here when we’re both done so we can put on some make-up!”

“I don’t need make-up… I wasn’t allowed to attend the ball last year, so why should I—”

Herbert tapped her nose with a half-amused, half-shocked expression. “No, no, no. You’re my friend this year. You’re allowed to come. Besides, I promised to dance with you.”

And he kept his promise.

Magda couldn’t see herself in the mirror, but after the Count’s son had assured her a thousand times that she looked like a princess, she started to believe him a little. He _had_ put a lot of effort into making her look good, after all.

When the ball started, when Count von Krolock had greeted all the guests, Magda was the first person Herbert danced with.

Another young, male vampire watched them with an unhappy expression, but ignoring him was easy enough when Herbert was spinning her around like there was no tomorrow.

Eventually, they stopped dancing for a moment, and Herbert looked down at her questioningly. “You look dizzy. Are you alright?”

“Well, I certainly can dance—I at least learned that much,” she replied, “but what you do… all that spinning…”

An amused laugh left his lips. “I see. Let’s take a break, then.”

She hesitated for a moment. “You know, I can see you’re having fun here… this ball happens only once a year, so you’re probably really enjoying it, but I’m not really comfortable here among all the nobles. That’s not my world, so I’ll just…”

“Magda! Do you know how many balls I have danced on until now? Skipping one won’t do anyone anything bad!” Herbert exclaimed. “Yes, dressing up with you was fun, it still is, and I like dancing, but I’ll leave with you. Father won’t be all that happy that I skipped the ball, but I can just tell him I wasn’t feeling well.”

“You were looking forward to this, though.”

“But Alfred isn’t here.”

So that was it.

Magda nodded slightly. “Fine, then.”

After a moment of hesitation, Herbert mumbled, “I skipped some balls with Celine, too. She never liked them. She attended them because she lived here… but we always left before the end. We used to watch the stars together—it was beautiful.” Then he added, “Come with me. I’ll show you a beautiful place to watch the stars from.”

A small nod was the only reply he got. Magda followed him wordlessly, wondering if there was a way to help him get over Celine’s death.

But when they sat on the roof of the castle ten minutes later, listening to the remnants of music they could hear from the ballroom, he said, “You don’t need to worry about Celine anymore. It happened, and I… if I can just remember her, that’s fine. You’re nothing like her at all, neither in your looks nor in your behavior, but you remind me of her.”

Magda smiled. “If you say so.”

He did, and he while he certainly wasn’t always right, he was saying the truth.


End file.
